Tuesday, April 7, 2015

History: The Year is 1552

The Society of Jesus Is Made Official -- These are the Jesuits and "Jesuit" is a mild insult. I talk about various insults embraced by those they were meant to target.

Problems in Yemen, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz -- Without the Suez Canal, the Ottoman Navy cannot be strong in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. I also talk about the problem of encouraging the people of a nation to revolt.

The Society of Jesus Is Made Official

Pope Julius the 3rd formally recognizes the Society of Jesus (the
Jesuits) and budgets an annual stipend for them. The term "Jesuit" is a
mild insult at this time. It means someone who uses the name "Jesus" a
little too much for comfortable conversation. The Jesuits will become
part of the counter-Reformation.
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

My Take by Alex ShruggedInsults
often change over time to become the preferred label for certain
people. For example, Orthodox Jews were not called Orthodox until the
1850s when Reform Jews wished to needle anyone who did not embrace
change in Jewish observance. So-called Orthodox Jews embraced the insult
but in a real sense, Orthodox Judaism does not exist. It is simply
observant Judaism, but don't tell anyone I said so. OK? Another group
that has embraced a negative label is homosexual men. My wife loved
watching the TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" where 5
self-identifying homosexual men gave a fashion makeover to heterosexual
men. [8][9]FYI, I was once on the board of directors of a Jewish organization that worked with Fordham University... a Jesuit institution.

Problems in Yemen, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz

With the opening of trade with India, Portuguese merchants are
bringing spices around the Cape of Good Hope, but part of merchant
trading at this time is not only to provide goods and services to your
customers but prevent your competition from doing the same... good and
hard. The Ottoman Turks are the competition. They have taken Yemen along
the Red Sea so as to control the shipping port of Mocha and its coffee
bean exports but the Portuguese have taken the Island of Hormuz at the
top of the hairpin turn that is the Strait of Hormuz. That position
effectively blocks all commerce within the Persian Gulf which includes
modern day eastern Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab
Emirates. The Ottoman Navy has been devastating in the Mediterranean Sea
but they can't bring enough ships around Africa to unseat the
Portuguese from their perch.
[10][11]

My Take by Alex ShruggedThere
was no Suez Canal in 1552 but if it did exist, you can bet that the
Portuguese would have been blocking traffic through it from their
competitors. The Suez Canal links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean
Sea. It is extremely valuable for trade since one need not make the long
trip around Africa. In that respect it is like the Panama Canal. And
like the Panama Canal, it is a military logistics choke point. At the
time of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the Russians wanted to send
ships from the Baltic Sea to reinforce their navy which had taken a
beating against the Japanese but the British blocked the Russian
transit. The Suez Crisis in 1956
closed the Suez Canal and President Dwight D. Eisenhower focused on the
Suez rather than support Hungry which was being invaded by the Soviets.
His administration had been encouraging Hungry to break away and they
thought the USA would come to save them, just as the Iraqi
revolutionaries believed that the US would join them in their overthrow
of Saddam Hussein after Gulf War I. Do I have to say Ukraine? I suppose I
do. [12][13][14]